The Homeric Hero In Sophocles Antigone

In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, Antigone is a woman who fights for her right to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices, going against the king’s laws. Antigone proves herself to be a Homeric hero through her actions. In comparison with characters from the mind of Homer, who made many heroes in his works, Antigone is most like Achilleus and Hektor, from The Iliad. Achilleus in that she follows through in what she believes is right and isn 't afraid to speak up to authority, and Hektor in the way she is willing to die for her values and her family. One major difference she has with is the heroes is that Antigone is a woman and a strong existing prejudice against women made her impact much worse in the eyes of authority.
In battle, Antigone’s brother Polyneices, had died but was left to rot. As family, …show more content…
Antigone felt an obligation to bury her “traitor” brother and defied the King that disagreed with her. Similar to Achilleus, who stood up to his general’s greed while his soldiers were dying, Antigone fought for her right to bury her brother out of love for her family and the acknowledgement that even he deserved a proper burial. She did not care for her brother’s treacherous actions as she felt he was always going to be her brother. Hektor felt the same way towards his fearful brother, Paris, and yelled at Paris to cause him to muster up strength, and Hektor displayed similar levels of compassion with his family, consoling them when he had to leave to war. As a woman, Antigone’s heroic actions were viewed with a bias, but her defiance in an age of extreme discrimination exalt her actions to an even more heroic level. No one thought a woman would ever be disobeying the laws and defying the King’s word. Her actions are only expected from heroic men, but she combines this with her femininity in what she fights for—the love and compassion for